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OVERVIEW OF VAPOR ABSORPTION CHILLING SYSTEMS

Course Content

One of the oldest methods to mechanically cool a space is with absorption technology. A

vapor absorption chiller (VAM) is a machine to produce chilled water using heat source

such as steam, hot water, gas, and oil. It seems unreasonable to achieve cooling with

heat, but that is what happens inside an absorption chiller.

A fluid pair lithium bromide and water is used in commercial VAM. The refrigerant used is

actually water, as that is the working medium that experiences a phase change and

causes the cooling affect. The second fluid that drives the process is a salt, generally

lithium bromide. Heat is used to separate the two fluids; when they are mixed in a near

vacuum environment.

For low temperature applications ammonia based absorption machines are used that

utilize ammonia as refrigerant and water as an absorbent.

These machines use only small fraction of electricity as compared to the conventional

vapor compression chillers. Vapor absorption systems work with non-CFC environmentally

friendly refrigerants such as water or ammonia.

The capital cost of VAM is higher compared to compression systems, but when viewed in

totality of reduced electrical service size, transformer, switchgear, cabling and lack of need

for an equipment room, the VAM becomes comparable to compression systems.

Today's modern absorption chillers range from around 90 tons to 2000 tons. Currently

there are only single stage and two stage machines in production. There are several

patents for 3 stage machines but they are not currently in the market.

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What you need to run a VAM?

Heat Source

Waste heat from the exhaust of a gas turbine, or from the exhaust and water jackets of a

reciprocating engine is recovered for use through heat exchangers. The heat from the flue

gases of furnaces, dryers, kilns and boilers can be utilized to drive the hot water or steam

run chillers.

In the case of dual effect absorption chillers, high-pressure steam or direct firing from

natural gas or oil, is the energy source.

Refrigerant

Vapor absorption systems work with non-CFC refrigerants such as water or ammonia.

Refrigerant of Li Br Absorption Machine is pure (distilled) water. The refrigerant water

flows in a closed loop and is re-circulated. These systems find acceptability in the

commercial air-conditioning or process cooling.

The ammonia based absorption system that uses ammonia as a refrigerant, finds use in

low temperature applications.

Absorbent

Absorbent is a material that has great affinity with water. It is well known that when salt

(such as Na Cl) is left in a high-humidity atmosphere, it becomes sticky. This is because it

absorbs moisture in the atmosphere. You might have noticed a pack of silica gel in a

shoebox. The purpose is to remove the dampness.

The vapor absorption machine uses an aqueous absorbent; Lithium Bromide (Li Br). We

can easily relate that the lithium bromide and the sodium chloride have similar features

because they are of the same element, that is, lithium (Li) and sodium (Na) are alkali while

bromide (Br) and chlorine (Cl) are halogen. Li Br has the same characteristics of a salt

and its absorption power is stronger than that of salt. The higher is the concentration and

the lower its temperature, the stronger is the absorption power. The chemical details of Li

Br are as follows:

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!" Chemical Formula: Li Br

!" Molecular Weight: 86.856

!" Component: Li = 7.99% / Br = 92.01%

!" Specific Gravity: 3.464 at 25°C (77°F)

!" Melting Point: 549°C (1,020.2 °F)

!" Boiling Point: 1,265°C (2,309°F)

Li Br is a non-toxic aqueous solution but very corrosive in oxygen.

Absorbent in the ammonia based absorption machine is water.

Inhibitor

Li Br has a corrosive action to metals in oxygen. But, as the absorption chiller is a vacuum

vessel, almost no oxygen is present in it. However, to safeguard and have a complete

protection, corrosion inhibitor is added in the absorbent and alkalinity is adjusted. Alcohol

namely octyle alcohol is generally added into the system to increase the absorption effect

of the absorbent.

Cooling Water

Cooling water is required to cool the absorbent and the refrigerant vapor. The cooling

water flows through the Absorber and the Condenser items of the VAM. The heat gain in

the cooling water is rejected in a cooling tower and thus is an open loop. Around 2% of

water is lost as a result of evaporation, drift and blow down in the cooling tower that needs

make-up.

Vapor Absorption Refrigeration Principle

Do you know water boils at 89°C at the summit of 2750m mountains?

The fundamental truth is that the water boils at 100°C (212°F) in the atmospheric pressure

and when the pressure is higher than the atmospheric pressure, water boils at a

temperature higher than 100°C (212°F) while when the pressure is lower (vacuum), water

boils at a temperature lower than 100°C (212°F).

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The pressure less than atmospheric pressure is called vacuum. Two basic principles

underlying the operation of absorption systems are as follows:

1. The first principle is that water boils at 5deg C at low-pressure vacuum conditions of

6.5mmwg.

2. The second principle is “Evaporation results in cooling.”

Lets examine the above closely.

Consider a closed vessel placed under vacuum of say 6.5mmHg (refer figure below).

Imagine the closed vessel contain a dry silica gel, which is high quality absorbent material

and also a heat transfer tube through which water is circulated. Now drop water on the

outer wall of the heat transfer tube. The following phenomenon shall occur:

1. The water droplets under vacuum conditions get evaporated at 5°C (41°F) taking an
evaporation heat from running water in the heat transfer tube. Such a liquid is called a
refrigerant.

2. The vapors so produced, as a result of evaporation shall immediately be absorbed by

the silica gel. This ensures the vacuum is kept inside the vessel.

3. The running water in the heat transfer tube become cool because the heat equivalent
to the evaporation heat is taken.

Figure – Vapor Absorption System with Silica Gel Absorbent

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When the silica gel reaches the limit of its absorbing capacity, the process continuity

cannot be maintained. Therefore some means of converting the absorbent to original

concentration is necessary, to ensure continuous cooled water supply.

In commercial practice silica gel is replaced with aqueous solution of lithium bromide (Li

Br). Li Br is much easy to handle than a solid, silica gel absorbent and exhibits great

affinity to water.

Continuing with the same explanation, Li Br after absorbing water vapors gets diluted. It

reaches a stage when it can no longer hold vapors and it is necessary to enrich it again to

the original level of concentration.

To recover the absorbent power, the weak diluted absorbent is heated that causes the

solution to release the absorbed vapor. The mixture is separated and the concentrated

absorbent is recycled back to the vessel. The released refrigerant vapor is condensed in

a separate vessel and sent back for evaporation. The figure below reflects the scheme.

Figure – Vapor Absorption System with Aqueous Li Br Absorbent

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How does the absorption chiller works?

The inside of the absorption machine is always kept in vacuum. There are 4 main

components of the VAM namely:

1. Evaporator

2. Absorber

3. Generator

4. Condenser

EVAPORATOR

The evaporator functions to cool the water flowing though a coil.

The condensed refrigerant (water) droplets falling on the heat transfer tubes evaporate

over the tubes. The water running through the heat transfer tubes of evaporator is cooled

by the latent heat of vaporized refrigerant.

The evaporator is maintained under vacuum of around 6.5mmHg to which the refrigerant

water boils at around 5°C.

Table below shows the relationship between the pressure and evaporation temperature.

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Gauge Absolute Temp.

Pressure Pressure Remarks
(°C)
(kg/cm 2 G) (kg/cm 2 G)
10 11 183.2
8 9 174.5 Driving pressure for
double effect type
Pressure 5 6 158.1
1 2 119,6 Driving pressure for
single effect type
0.5 1.5 110.8

Atmospheric
1 atm. 760 mmHg 100
Pressure

650.0 95.5 High Temp. Generator

Pressure
525.9 90.0
167.6 62.6
92.5 50.0
61.0 41.5 Condenser Pressure
Vacuum
31.8 30.0
29.4 28.6
9.2 10.0
6.54 5.0 Evaporator Pressure
5.68 3.0

ABSORBER

The absorber functions to maintain the pressure of the evaporator in the vacuum by

absorbing the refrigerant vapor evaporated in the evaporator.

The refrigerant vapor from the evaporator is drawn into "absorber " vessel containing the

"absorbent" solution. The vapor gets readily absorbed into the absorbent, due to its strong

affinity for the refrigerant.

The cooling water flowing through the cooling coils within the absorber absorbs the heat

load from the evaporator and, unavoidably, some of the residual heat from the

concentrated solution. This heat is dissipated through the cooling tower.

When the refrigerant vapors are absorbed, a vacuum is created which allows the

refrigerant from the condenser to expand into the evaporator causing the refrigerating

effect.

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GENERATOR

The generator functions to enrich the Li Br solution to its original concentration.

As lithium bromide solution is diluted, the effect to absorb the refrigerant vapor reduces.

The diluted solution of Li Br absorbent flows to the Generator to regain its concentration.

It is a vessel where the diluted solution of absorbent is heated by means of steam, hot

water or direct gas/oil firing. The diluted solution releases the refrigerant vapor and

becomes concentrated solution.

The hot concentrated solution, which has now regained its strong affinity for absorbing

more refrigerant, returns back to the ‘absorber’.

A heat exchanger is generally provided for heat exchange between the cold dilute solution

before entering the generator and the hot concentrated solution leaving the generator.

This improves the ‘cycle efficiency’ as preheating of the dilute solution prior to entering the

generator reduces the heat-energy input to the generator and the simultaneous pre-

cooling of the concentrated solution returning to the 'absorber' will reduce the extent of

cooling water flow in the absorber.

CONDENSER

The refrigerant vapors that are released from the generator are cooled and liquefied in a

condenser.

The hot refrigerant vapors leaving the generator flows through eliminators or separator

(which prevent carry over of Li Br) to the condenser. The cooling water from a cooling

tower circulates through the condenser removing the heat from the vapors. The low

temperature steam vapor is condensed into a liquid refrigerant where it passes through an

orifice into the evaporator, which operates under a vacuum. This performs the same

function as the condenser in a conventional compression refrigeration system.

The cooling water is the same water that has been previously used to cool the absorber.

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Single – Double Effect Absorption Chillers

Without getting technical, the number of “effects” in a chiller reflects the number of times

energy is used. The single effect absorption cycle uses a single generator for

concentrating the diluted solution.

Single Effect Units use low- pressure (20 psig or less) steam or hot water at (85 deg C to

95 deg. C) as the driving force. These units typically require about 18pph per ton of 9-psig

steam at the generator flange (after control valve) at ARI standard rating conditions.

The Coefficient of performance (i.e. useful refrigeration effect in the evaporator divided by

the heat input in generator) of single effect absorption chillers is low (ranging between

0.68 to 0.75)

However, a single-effect vapor absorption system offers the unique benefits of obtaining

useful refrigeration for air-conditioning or process chilling through heat recovery from low-

pressure and temperature waste steam in certain industrial processes or power plants

using condensing back-pressure turbines, as well as heat recovery from a relatively lower-

temperature flue-gas (such as a diesel engine/ gas engine exhaust) to produce hot water

for operating the single effect vapor absorption cycle.

Figure - Basic Cycle of Single Effect Chiller

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Double Effect (2-Stage) Units

The double effect units are available as direct burner-fired (using either gas or oil) or

steam-driven with high-pressure steam (40 to 140 psig).

The Double Effect Type Absorption Machine adopts a higher heat efficiency of

condensation. The Generator section is divided into a High Temperature Generator and a

Low Temperature Generator. The refrigerant vapor produced by the High Temperature

generator is used to heat the Li Br solution in the low temperature generator in which the

pressure (hence the boiling point) is lower.

These units typically have a COP of 1.0 to 1.2. Steam driven units require about 9 to 10

pph per ton of 114 psig input steam at ARI standard rating conditions.

Gas-fired units require an input of about 10,000 to 12,000 Btuh HHV per ton of cooling at

ARI standard rating conditions.

The improved performance over single effect machine is due to second generator in the

cycle and higher temperature energy source.

Since the efficiency of double effect machine is high, the cooling water requirement is low

and cooling tower size is reduced.

Figure - Basic Cycle of Double Effect Type Chillers

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Performance Analysis of Li Br System

The absorption cycle's performance can be read in Figure below which depicts the

temperature pressure concentration relation for the lithium bromide aqueous solution in

the entire cycle.

The explanation is as follows:

1. At Generator Outlet: shows concentrated and heated state of lithium bromide solution

(65% lithium bromide by weight) and temperature 103 deg. C and corresponding vapor

pressure of 75 mm mercury Absolute.

2. At Absorber Inlet: Lithium bromide concentration remaining unchanged i.e. 65% but

solution temperature coming down to 61 deg C (after passing through heat-exchanger)

and vapor pressure 13 mm mercury Absolute.

3. At Absorber Outlet: Lower solution concentration of 60.3% reached after dilution and

cold solution temperature of approx 38.5 deg C.

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4.Inlet of Generator: Solution concentration remaining unchanged i.e. 60.3% (as in 3

above) but higher solution temperature of approx. 78 deg C attained due to pre-heating in

the heat-exchanger.

Operation Issues and Precautions

Li Br absorbent is prone to "crystallization". If something goes wrong in the cycle, the salt

and water would permanently separate, and the aqueous solution of Li Br shall crystallize

on the walls of the absorber. Modern controls pretty much make that impossible to

happen now, but for understanding, it is important to have the concept.

The cooling water influences the operation of VAM. Cooling water flows through the

Absorber and the Condenser. The cooling water takes the heat, which the Li Br solution

absorbs from the refrigerant vapor in the Absorber. This means the cooling water-cools

the absorbent and the refrigerant vapor from the Generator.

1) The lower temperature of cooling water

The absorption power of Li Br solution is stronger at lower temperature of the cooling

water. When the temperature of the cooling water in the condenser is low, condensing

temperature of the refrigerant decreases. Therefore, condenser pressure becomes low.

As the boiling temperature (generator temperature) of the Li Br solution decreases when

the condensing pressure is low, calorific value of the driving heat source can decrease.

This will result in energy savings.

2) The cooling water temperature is too low

It is not acceptable that the temperature of cooling water is too low. The lithium bromide

solution of certain concentration becomes crystallized under the temperature lower than

certain degree. For example, at a concentration of Li Br of 65% this absorbent solution

crystallizes at a temperature lower than 42°C(108°F), with concentration of 60% at a

temperature lower than 17°C(63°F) and with concentration of 55% at the temperature

lower than 15 deg C. As the absorbent crystallizes, it become a solid, thus unable to flow

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therefore chiller cannot operate. Plus it leaves a messy maintenance work of cleaning the

whole system.

3) The cooling water temperature becomes high

The Machine has some problems when cooling water temperature becomes too high.

With increase of cooling water temperature, the absorption power of the Li Br solution is

degraded. The Machine cannot produce the normal chilled water temperature and higher

fuel is consumed. Therefore, to prevent this, the stability of cooling water system,

preventive maintenance of cooling tower system/ equipment and water treatment is

essential.

4) Water treatment of cooling water

The water treatment of the cooling water is an important factor for the Machine. If the

water quality is not good, the heat transfer tubes may form a scale on the interior surfaces

besides it may become corroded. The heat transfer capability shall decrease, causing

abrupt changes in chilled water temperature and a waste of the driving source energy.

CAPACITY CONTROL

Capacity of the unit is automatically controlled to meet the load variation, by varying the

rate of re-concentration of the dilute solution in the generator by regulating the steam

supply to the unit with a control valve at the steam condensate outlet getting a command

for opening or closing from the 'sensor' sensing the outlet chilled water temperature.

VAM FOR HEATING

The absorption process described can also be used for heating applications by passing

the hot refrigerant (water) vapors directly from the high temperature generator to the

evaporator where the chilled water coils become heating coils. This is the function of the

conventional gas fired "Chiller/Heater.

Some units can optionally heat and cool at the same time (for multi-zoned applications

that have both a heated and chilled water loop).

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Choice of Refrigerant- Absorption Pairs

Lithium Bromide – Water Absorption System

A fluid pair comprising lithium bromide salt solution as 'absorbent ' and water as refrigerant

is commonly used for air-conditioning applications.

The characteristics are:

At the operating temperatures and pressures encountered, water as refrigerant is much

more volatile compared to lithium bromide which is practically non-volatile. Hence it is

feasible to separate the refrigerant from the absorbent for proper evaporation of the

refrigerant in the evaporator.

A concentrated lithium bromide solution has great affinity for water.

Since the operating pressures are low in the lithium bromide-water absorption system, the

pumping cost is low and also the wall thickness of the shell gets reduced compared to the

ammonia-water fluid combination. The ammonia-water absorption system is now used

mainly for low-temperature applications.

The precautions are:

Since water is used as refrigerant, evaporation temperature must be kept above the

freezing point of water and hence the temperature of chilled water from such a system

cannot be less than 5 deg C (41 deg. F)

Lithium bromide solution is corrosive. Therefore inhibitors need to be added to the system

to protect the metal parts of the system against corrosion.

Coolant temperatures must not be too low to avoid crystallization of the lithium bromide.

Ammonia-Water Absorption System

A fluid pair comprising ammonia as refrigerant and water as absorbent is mainly used for

low temperature refrigeration applications.

The characteristics are:

Ammonia water as working media has following advantages:

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!" High affinity

!" High stability

!" Moderate operating pressure, No vacuum up to -30°C

!" Absence of solid phase

!" Non-corrosive to carbon steel

Water has great affinity for ammonia and can dissolve enormous amounts of ammonia

vapor and there is no solidification problem encountered with ammonia refrigerant over a

very wide range of evaporating temperatures even up to very low temperature

applications.

The precautions are:

Since water also evaporates when the ammonia water solution is heated in the 'generator',

the ammonia vapor from the 'generator' is mixed with water vapor. If the ammonia vapor

mixed with water-vapor reaches the condenser, condensation of water vapor will interfere

with the evaporation of the ammonia liquid in the evaporator of the ammonia liquid in the

evaporator and reduce the refrigeration capacity. A separate rectifier is generally provided

to overcome this problem.

Cost Economics

The absorption systems with a COP of 1.0 burn 12,000 BTUs of gas for each ton-hour of

cooling, or at $4.50 per MCF, $0.054/ton-hour. There is an electric load on the absorbers

for pumps (in addition to cooling towers and chilled water loops) that must be considered

as well.

Therefore, before an absorption machine can break even with the cost of electric
equipment, the gas cost must be below $4.50/MCF and electric above $0.08/KWH. Then
you can deal with the additional first cost of the units

Find below is a case study comparison for one of the facility in Japan. This illustration
provides useful format to perform life cycle analysis on new projects.

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Electric
An example of two 120 Tons machines
Screw? Absorption
located within MetroGAS Headquarters
Compressor System
“Ombú”
System

Heat Power Required Ton 240 240

Electric Power

Equipment Maximum kW 192 5

Ancillary
Maximum kW 32 40
Equipment

Annual Full Load Operating Hours hrs/year 1000 1000

Consumed Electric Power

Power Contract - Not Peak Load kW 224 45

Contract - Peak Load kW 224 45

Electric
kWh/yr 224,000 45,000
Power

3
Consumed Electric Power Nm /yr 0 76,800

Charges/Tariffs Applied

Electric
Tariff No 3 -MT
Power

Power Not Peak Load $/kW 2.92 2.92

Peak $/kW 4.67 4.67

Energy $/kWh 0.0365 0.0365

Taxes Capital 6.38% 6.38%

Natural
S.G.P. Tariff
Gas
3 3
Up to 1000Nm $/Nm 0.13430
3 3
The Next 8000 Nm $/Nm 0.12548

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3
Remainder $/Nm 0.11667

Bill Charge $ 12.7288

3
Average $/Nm 0.12455

Taxes Capital 2.60%

Annual Operating Costs

Electric Power $/year $30400 $6100

Natural Gas $/year 0 $9600

Annual Total Cost $/year $30400 $15700

Annual Operating Savings $/year $14700

S.G.P. Tariff - General Small Supply Tariff

While the cost of absorption pieces of equipment is higher than the same power
compressor ones, the lower operating cost balances the difference in the short term.

Other General Facts and Economics

1. From the Li Br absorption system, since water is the refrigerant, the minimum

possible chilled water temperature at its lowest is about 46° F. Therefore,

absorbers cannot be used in a refrigeration application. The ammonia –water

absorption systems find usage in low temperature cold storages and refrigeration

applications.

2. The coefficient of performance (COP) of the absorption machine is low generally

around 1 as compared to around 3 for modern vapor compression systems. The

VAM however offer great savings where there is possibility of tapping waste heat

in industrial applications or where the energy pricing electricity v/s fuel oil/gas tip

the scale in favor of fuel/gas. Typically, the life cycle analysis on various projects

indicate that the dual effect absorption chillers shall operate more economically in

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most geographical areas, due to the differential in the cost between gas and

electric energy.

3. The energy and environmental norms are becoming more and more stringent in

all countries. The concept of energy consumption and CO2 emission tax is

becoming reality in many western countries. On international scale many

countries have started identifying VAM as an energy & environmentally friendly

device. The ozone depletion issues associated with compression systems and the

green house/ acid rain issues associated with power generation favors induction

of VAM. Absorption chillers do not use CFCs or HCFCs.

4. Many of the smaller sizes of absorption chillers up to 100 tons are designed for

outside installations and require no equipment rooms as compared with larger

size absorption chillers, which do.

5. The absorption systems do require cooling water. Air-cooled options are not

available in commercial market. The areas having scarcity of good quality water

should carefully evaluate the economics.

6. VAM uses only small fraction of electricity to drive the solution pumps as

compared to the conventional vapor compression chillers.

7. The capital cost of VAM is higher by at least by 50% as compared to equivalent

compression systems. But when the following items are considered for life cycle

analysis the cost may be comparable:

!" Reduced electrical service size, transformer, switchgear, cabling and

other electrical auxiliaries

!" No need for an equipment room

!" The Electric Peak demand is reduced that shall provide recurring savings
on the tariff

!" No need for installing an emergency back up power such as DG sets for
critical applications

!" The direct-fired machines do not require any boilers or waste heat
recovery investments

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!" Where waste heat is effectively tapped the chilling is for the free;
operating costs reduce drastically

!" Machines are silent and do not require acoustic protection

!" Machines are environmental friendly

!" Some states and utility companies provide subsidies and incentives such
as higher depreciation for VAM

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